A Cowboy’s Happy Trail Tips For Life & Leadership
“Happy trails to you,” sang Roy Rogers and Dale Evans in the 1940s and 50s. If it’s true we’re all on a trail, we need a guide–to be reminded where we’re headed and to reach our destination. When we get there, we want to be pleased with our travel along the way.
For believers in Jesus, we’re headed for that glorious Promised Land, at the end of the trail. And along the way there are some happy trail tips that can guide us. Here’s your trail guide tips for life and leadership today, the cowboy way . . .
Happy Trail Tip #1: The Only Way to Drive Cattle Fast is Slow
In the Old West, twenty years or so after the Civil War, cowboys moved their great herds up from south Texas to the railheads in Kansas. And in the pictures and movies, I like to watch how they move the cattle north. The first thing I notice, they use white-faced cattle and not the longhorns, mainly because they couldn’t find enough longhorns.
The other thing I notice, they run the same cows by the camera. They’ll have an angle here and over there and it’s the same cattle. I guess they assume all cows look the same to the audience. And I suppose they do to some people. But another thing, they trot the cattle right along.
Can you imagine if you trotted 4,000 head of cattle from south Texas to Kansas at that rate? I mean to tell you, you wouldn’t even have beef nuggets by the time they reached the Red River. When they moved those herds, they grazed them north. They certainly didn’t run them. They worked them a little bit, but they let them eat grass all day long. That made a happy herd at the end of the day.
If you moved them slow, you’d get them there quick. If they moved them fast, they wouldn’t get there at all. Sometimes in ministries and programs we’re involved in, the way to get to the destination quickest is to move at a steady pace.
Trail Tip #2: A Person Who Agrees with Everything You Say Is Either a Fool or Getting Ready To Skin You
You need people around you who have alternate and even opposing ideas. They have something else to say. Spend time with people who don’t balk at challenging your position. That’s okay. That means they’re valuable independent thinkers.
Trail Tip #3: There’s a Lot More to Riding a Horse Than Sitting in a Saddle and Letting Your Feet Hang Down
No one ever became a good parent or spouse or boss by accident. You can get into a ministry, a position, a job, and figure, Hey, now I’m here. I can just coast. Day after day such a person performs to the minimum standard. That’s like sitting in the saddle with your feet down and calling yourself horseback. But there’s lots more to riding than that. And a lot more to your role than mere surviving a routine.
Happy Trail Tip #4: Don’t Get Mad at Somebody Who Knows More Than You
Whenever you get into a group of people, you’re in a room full of teachers. Each has as subject to share. It ain’t his fault. Besides, I have a feeling you are people who learn a lot from others. The people who have a hard time learning from others don’t come to conferences because they know it all. The biggest fools in the world refuse to learn from others.
There are always people who know more than you do. Just get them on the right topic. For instance, I met some experts on working with Fimo Clay. I knew nothing about it. They could teach me a lot about that craft.
The sooner you realize you’re surrounded with people who know lots of stuff, you grow in knowledge and doing relationships. Pay attention and listen.
Trail Tip #5: A Good Horse is Never a Bad Color
As far as I’m concerned, a good horse is never a bad breed either. It doesn’t matter. However, you might prefer horses with chrome on them. Or you’re drawn to Paint horses or Appaloosas or Palominos. But a good horse can be any color, whether papered or not or anything else.
The same is true with relationships of all sorts, a ministry, or reaching out to others in any venue. A good worker is a good co-worker, whatever the background, social status, or physical looks.
Trail Tip #6: Oil All the Wheels on Your Wagon
They had to put a lot of axle grease on those pioneer wagons coming across the prairie. That was usually one of the young boys’ jobs with the bucket of grease. Every hour or so they had to slap grease on the wheels under the wagon. But you didn’t just slather the one making the noise. That just meant that they all needed attention. A squeaker was like an alarm bell that they all required lubricating.
Maybe that’s true in any family, especially with the kids, or for any leader or head of staff. When only one squeaks, that might indicate more need attention. Make your focus wider.
Trail Tip #7: Dance When the Music’s Playing
There are certain times to do specific things to accomplish a task or goal. Otherwise, you’ll spend a lot of time looking back with regrets: “I should have done that back then. Why didn’t we try that new ministry? We missed the nudge to take that bold step of faith. The right timing passed us to invest in that new building. This program should have been started years ago.”
I have a little saying that I wrote for myself years ago. My own personal motto: “I’ve got to do those things in life I would regret not doing.” I don’t want to end my life with a bunch of “I-should-have-dones.”
If you hear a supernatural, divine song calling to you, get in step. Plan or get involved in the assigned program, the personal project, whatever God has for you to do. Don’t wait or postpone.
Janet and I teach at a lot of writers’ conferences. Everyone in the country seems to be writing a book. So many come up to us and say, “You know, I have a book in me. I’m going to write it someday.” And I think, yeah, right, no they aren’t. Not that they couldn’t. I’m sure their life and mind brims with materials. However, if they keep putting it off, they’ll never do it. Perseverance, persistence, and getting started required. The time to dance is when the music’s playing.
Trail Tip #8: No Need to Buckle on Chaps and Spurs to Drive In the Milk Cows
You see, that’s overkill. If you’ve got two old milk cows, all you have to do is stand in the back of the barn and whistle a couple times. They’ll come trotting right in. You don’t need to cowboy up, saddle a horse, put on chaps, or get out the rope or anything else.
Sometimes in ministry, in leading, and in relationships, we overreact. We act as though we must labor with elaborate preparation to drive in a whole herd when it’s really a simple job of one-on-one, just as we are.
Stephen Bly
Circa 1996
Nature Trail Image by Alexander Fox | PlaNet Fox from Pixabay
Open Conversation Quote Notes Image by Sly from Pixabay
A Really Good Horse Image by Heiner from Pixabay
Hour Glass Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
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“A Cowboy’s Guide for Life & Ministry” audio podcast by award-winning western author Stephen Bly. All 25 trail tips for the road as leader of your church, camp, or conference, or disciple, follower of Jesus. Sponsored by BlyBooks.com Legacy Series.
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